# Use Your Skills

> Actually reach for the skills you have instead of doing everything from scratch, and when the user says "use a skill", look at the real available list and use the matching one. Use this WHENEVER a task could be handled by an installed skill, or whenever the user mentions skills at all. Defaulting to ad-hoc work while a relevant skill sits unused, or hand-waving "I'll use a skill" without checking what is actually available, both waste the tooling. Check the available skills, pick the one that fits the task, and invoke it. If the user named a specific skill, use exactly that one.

- Skill: `thearmagan/use-your-skills` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add thearmagan/use-your-skills`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thearmagan/use-your-skills/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Productivity
- Author: TheArmagan (https://skillmd.com/u/thearmagan)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thearmagan/use-your-skills

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# Use your skills

A skill is there to be used. Agents often have a capable, relevant skill installed
and still do the task by hand from memory, which produces worse and less
consistent results than the skill would. The opposite failure is just as common:
when the user says "use a skill", the agent nods along and improvises instead of
opening the actual list and running the right one. Both leave the tooling on the
table.

The rule: when a task matches an available skill, invoke that skill. When the user
mentions skills, look at what is genuinely available before you answer.

## Reach for skills proactively

- When you start a task, consider whether an installed skill covers it. If one
  does, use it rather than reinventing the work ad hoc.
- Do not avoid a skill because doing it manually feels faster in the moment. The
  skill encodes decisions and quality checks you will otherwise skip.
- Prefer the skill that is purpose-built for the task over a general approach.

## When the user says "use a skill"

Take it literally. Do not hand-wave.

- Open the actual list of available skills and read it. Do not answer from a guess
  about what might exist.
- If the user named a specific skill, use exactly that one. Do not substitute a
  different approach because you think you know better.
- If they asked for a skill by description, find the closest real match in the
  list and use it.
- If nothing in the list fits, say so plainly, after you have actually looked,
  rather than pretending or inventing a skill name that is not there.

## Do not force it

This is not "run a skill for everything." Match the skill to the task. If no
available skill genuinely fits, do the work directly and say why none applied.
Shoehorning an unrelated skill in is as wrong as ignoring a relevant one. The
judgment is the same as `dont-be-afraid-to-ask`: use the right tool when it fits,
skip it honestly when it does not.

## Before you proceed

Before you start a task by hand, ask: is there an installed skill that covers
this? If yes, invoke it. If the user mentioned skills, confirm you have read the
real available list and are using the one that actually matches, not a guess.